The Road Less Traveled
by bsloths
Summary: Flashfic for Moonlit-Jeannie. Derek is entrusted with the most crucial event of Grade 12 – the Senior Prank. Will he be able to pull it off? Shemily, Kenvor, and Dasey. Oneshot.


Here's my flashfic for Moonlit-Jeannie. This has been the toughest one I've ever worked on…sorry Allie, it's no Rite of Passage. But I hope you like it anyway!

The prompt will be at the end.

--Brandi

Disclaimer: I own approximately zero percent of Life with Derek. It's true. I did the math.

**The Road Less Traveled **

Hi. I'm Derek Venturi. People call me D, or D-Man, and for a short period of time, Dere-bear. I'd rather you forget about that last one, though. You know what? Just call me Derek. And make it into two syllables, like Casey does. I've kind of started to like that.

Ahem.

Moving on. I'm going to tell you a story. I'd better give you a little background information first…

It was supposed to be the pinnacle of my high school career. That's right, I said pinnacle. I've been studying with Casey, and unfortunately bits of her genius seem to be rubbing off on me. Oops, I just called her a genius, didn't I? Don't tell her. She _has_ helped me out a lot this year. She's tutored me into a B student. Crazy, huh? There was no way around it, though—otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to graduate. Or get into the University of Toronto, where we're both going this fall.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. It was supposed to be the pinnacle of my high school career. The moment I had been dreaming about since…forever. I had cemented my status as the best prankster in the school, and the Senior Prank was just expected of me. Everyone in Grade 12 had a meeting in the fall, and they all kind of unanimously voted me the brains of the operation.

So here it is, the beginning of June. Graduation's in less than two weeks. We've had our prom (I took Emily, because Sheldon couldn't leave Newfoundland. And Casey took Sam, because his date got the flu, and she had just broken up with Noel.) Not that it matters who Casey took. I no longer think of Casey like _that_. It was hurting my reputation, and I just don't _do_ lovesick. Not that anyone knew about my f-f-fee…uh, thoughts for Casey. Not that she would ever reciprocate…okay, calm down, Venturi. I guess I should get back to my story. That's what you guys are here for, right?

So, to recap: pinnacle, brains of operation, so-so prom, Casey is a freak. Bottom line is, I had this great prank worked out in my head, and somehow it came crashing down around me. That's right. I, _the_ Derek Venturi, failed at the one thing my graduating class entrusted to me. I let down all of the students that treated me like a god for four years. And most importantly, I let myself down.

I guess I should start at the beginning. The beginning of the end, that is.

Bump in the Road Number One: Infiltration

"I can't believe you're here!" Emily said for the fifth time, as she pulled into her driveway after picking up Sheldon from the airport.

"Em, I just saw you three days ago. For my graduation, remember?" Sheldon pushed her shoulder playfully. He wasn't minding her excited squealing one bit.

"I _know_, but this is different. You're staying with me for the _whole_ summer." She turned off the car and opened the door. She and Sheldon began unloading his luggage from the trunk.

"And after that, we're going to college together. You're going to get sick of me," he grinned.

Emily clutched her heart. "Never, my love." She leaned over to peck him on the cheek. Sheldon couldn't help but laugh. Emily was acting positively giddy at the prospect of spending every moment with him. He could get used to this kind of adoration.

Casey came running up to greet them. Or so they thought.

"Guys, come with me!"

"Hello to you too, Casey," Sheldon cracked, but Casey barely heard him.

"We'll talk later. Come _on_!" She tossed Sheldon's bags back into the trunk, closed it, and grabbed them by the wrists. Emily and Sheldon just accepted her manhandling; there was no use trying to talk Casey out of something.

She dragged them next door, into her house, and up the stairs, only pausing outside Derek's door. "Listen," she whispered, and Sheldon and Emily obediently put their ears to the door as Casey had done.

"So it has to be something that's going to affect the whole school," he was saying.

"What are they talking about?" Emily hissed, but Casey just shushed her.

Ralph groaned. "That won't work, Derek. We don't have that kind of money."

Derek slammed something down on what sounded like his desk. "You're shooting down all of my ideas! I was up half the night thinking!"

"You mean, we're about to graduate and you _finally_ learned how to think? Good for you, Derek," Sam said, and Ralph laughed. Derek must have given him a death glare, because he quieted abruptly.

"Okay, next idea. What if we set a bunch of chickens or ducks or something loose in the hallways? Ralph, your cousin still runs that farm, right?" Derek asked.

No one got to hear Ralph's answer, because Casey flung open the door, causing Sheldon and Emily to tumble into the room. The boys stared at them in shock.

"No, Derek, I won't let you do it. No animal pranks! It's cruel and obnoxious—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Derek held up a hand to silence her, and for once, she actually listened. "What are you even doing here? This is _my_ prank. You get no say, Princess."

Casey crossed her arms and glared daggers her stepbrother. "I do get a say if you're going to do something illegal or immoral. I won't have this kind of debauchery in my house. You wouldn't even be graduating if it wasn't for me."

Derek stood up and faced her, expression stony. "You can't use that against me, Casey…I still did the work that earned the marks. And who uses words like 'debauchery'? You get no say in my plan, and that's final. I don't appreciate the eavesdropping, either. I don't listen in on _your_ conversations."

No one but Emily noticed when Sam and Ralph exchanged looks that clearly said, "_Sure_ he doesn't."

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I just happened to be passing by when I heard you talking, that's all."

"Don't lie, Space Case. You know you can't ever fool me, even though I taught you well."

"Okay, then…I'm telling Mom and George your plan. If I can't stop you, you know _they_ will…Or at least, my mom will," she added as an afterthought.

Derek hesitated for half a second, and that was his mistake. Casey knew she had him.

"Do whatever you want, Derek. But you know, I _will_ find out, and I _will_ stop you."

They stood, inches apart, and glaring menacingly at each other, until Sheldon said weakly, "Uh, hi everyone. I'm home."

That seemed to break the tension, and Sam, Derek, and Ralph came over to say hello, exchange guy hugs, et cetera.

"So, if Casey promises to behave, can we get in on this?" Emily asked, when everyone had quieted down.

Sam and Ralph looked at Derek hopefully. "We could use the extra brainpower, D," Sam suggested.

Derek considered his options. Say no, and risk Dad and Nora finding out. Say yes, and possibly have to change his plans to suit her whole "no illegal, no immoral" rule.

He figured there had to be _something_ that they could all agree on. Besides, he kind of wanted Emily in on it. She knew the school better than anyone.

So, saying words he knew he would regret for a long, long time, he agreed. "You three are in. But no one else can know about this, okay?"

Bump in the Road Number Two: Blackmail

They met back in Derek's room the next day, each with a list of ideas, as per Derek's instructions. If Sam and Ralph hated all his ideas, the least they could do was come up with their own.

Casey insisted they do this democratically; they would vote on each person's suggestion, and the idea with the most votes at the end would be the prank. Derek balked at this, of course; he was the mastermind of this whole thing, so he should get to choose. But after a vote about the vote, Derek lost, and he settled himself in his desk chair, grumbling incoherently.

"Okay," Emily began. "I thought we could do something like put all the desks out on the football field, and spell out 'Class of 2009' or something."

"No way. They did that prank our freshman year," Derek said, but Casey shot him a dirty look.

"We're writing everything down and then voting; that's the deal," she reminded him firmly.

"We can't use a prank that was just done three years ago!"

Emily looked at Casey and shrugged. "He's kind of right, Case. I forgot about that."

Casey huffed in frustration. "Fine. Sam, your idea?"

Sam scratched the back of his neck, clearly delaying his answer. "Well…I didn't really think of anything good. I thought maybe we could stage a D-Rock concert in the middle of the night in the cafeteria, but then I realized that with the security cameras, it wouldn't work."

"And also, everyone would know it was you guys. It should be anonymous," Casey reasoned, and Derek blinked in surprise. He had been about to say that. Maybe Casey did know what she was doing.

Sheldon went next. "Well, at my new school, they rewired the PA system to play that 'Get Low' song every time anyone tried to do the announcements. The principal couldn't fix it all week."

"I like that," Casey and Derek said at the same time. They looked at each other, speechless. Derek recovered first.

"That's a good one, Shel. Write that down," he instructed Casey. So she did.

Ralph said, "I think we should make it fun for everyone. Somehow give out candy, or bring in like, clowns to do face painting. That type of thing."

Derek had a sudden bolt of inspiration. "That's it, Ralphie!"

Ralph was taken aback. "It is?"

"Yeah. What if we turn Thompson into some kind of carnival? It would cause just the right amount of mayhem—shut up, Casey, I know mayhem is a big word for me—and we could do something with the PA system so it blasts music, and get some people to dress as clowns and walk through the halls. We could even fill the teachers' desks with like, popcorn…" Derek's wheels were still turning, and everyone stayed silent, waiting for him to finish. He began pacing back and forth. "And we could cover the hallways with balloons somehow…I see it. It could work." He sat back down, and looked at his friends expectantly.

They looked around at each other, feeling out the general consensus.

Casey spoke for all of them. "I think…that would be really fun. And it's disruptive without ruining property or hurting anyone. And who can get angry about a little harmless carnival? The potential for getting into trouble is really low. But…" she looked around at everyone else again. "Should we vote on it first?"

They all nodded, and it was put to a vote. It was met with six resounding yeses.

The next day, they all sat together at lunch to do some more planning. They kept their voices low, and Derek was pretty confident that no one knew what they were talking about. That's why he almost jumped out of his skin when Amy tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Derek, hey guys," she said with a friendly smile. "You're talking about the Senior Prank, aren't you?"

"No," Casey said quickly, beating Lord of the Lies Derek to the punch. "We're discussing finals."

Amy chuckled. "Yeah, right. Sheldon doesn't even go to this school anymore." She waved at him with a knowing smile, and he gave her a curt nod.

"Alright, Amy what do you want?" Derek asked in irritation. If she was just going to jerk them around, she needed to leave.

Amy took that as an invitation to sit down, and they made room for her as best they could. "Okay, here's the deal. I know you're the one planning it this year, Derek. I didn't realize you'd have such a big committee, but whatever. You know how Max's class didn't quite pull it off last year?"

Derek laughed, even though it really wasn't funny. "You mean how Ryan snuck into Lassiter's office to steal the school's academic excellence trophy, and he ended up getting stuck in the window so badly the paramedics had to come save him?"

Amy lowered her gaze. "That's what I mean. Listen, Max feels really badly about how that went down last year, and he wants in."

"Excuse me?" Derek pretended to clean out his ears. "If I remember correctly, Max went to the States on a football scholarship. He's not _in_ high school anymore." He looked over at Casey, who shrugged, but looked worried just the same.

Amy nodded. "I'm sorry Derek, but he really wants another chance to prove he's not—and these are my words, not his—a complete idiot."

Casey and Emily glared at her, and Derek looked at Amy quizzically. "So you, as his current girlfriend, I'm assuming, were sent here to do his dirty work?"

"Well, yeah. He didn't want to come marching into the school and ask you about it; he was afraid you'd say no."

"So what does he want for letting him in? Money?"

"Gosh, no. He just wants the bragging rights." She leaned close to Derek. "And if you don't let him help, he might just have to tell Lassiter about your little plan."

"He doesn't even know what the plan is!" Sam spoke up.

Amy fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Oh, but I'm always around. I eavesdropped on you today. I can do it again." She looked around to each person in turn. "Let Max in, or let your prank get ruined. It's as simple as that."

Derek gulped, hoping Amy hadn't heard him. He knew they were stuck, but the last thing he wanted was old Wax back in the picture. Especially Casey's picture. She had such a weak spot for that loser.

"It's okay, Derek," Casey said, as if reading his mind. "I'm way over Max. We should just let him help. We could use an extra person anyway…" she trailed off, seeing his panicked expression.

"Fine. Tell Max to meet us at Smelly Nelly's at four. We'll be discussing the plan then. He gets no say in it; he just gets to help out. But we'll give him some of the credit. Sound good?"

Amy pressed a kiss to his cheek, and he flinched, much to Casey's amusement. "Sounds great, D. See you around."

With that, she sauntered off, looking totally satisfied with herself.

Derek groaned and put his head on the table. What a blow to his pride. This was supposed to be _his_ thing, and now seven different people were in on it. No more. That's it. No more.

Bump in the Road Number Three: Necessity

"No more people!" Derek bellowed at Casey, causing her to back up a few steps.

"Der, we _need_ him! No one else has the computer skills!"

Derek hated to admit it, but she was right.

They had been planning nonstop for two days, carefully avoiding the PA issue. They knew no one in their group had that kind of computer knowledge. Thompson was surprisingly high-tech in that department.

Emily had suggested they ask Trevor for help. He wasn't a computer genius, per se, but he had done some independent study with Paul for extra credit.

So that was how Emily, Sheldon, Casey, and Derek ended up on Trevor's front porch, waiting anxiously for the chance to let him in on their plan.

Casey took a deep breath while going over the pitch in her head, and rang the doorbell.

"Hey…Kendra?"

Casey was at a loss for words as the blonde stepped outside.

"Well hi, Casey. It's been awhile! And Derek, Emily, and Sheldon! Wow, it's so nice to see all of you!" She gave them each a tight hug, and they fidgeted nervously. Derek felt the slightest hint of guilt, because he knew they were all trying to think of the best way to get rid of her.

Luckily, Casey was a woman on a mission. "So, Kendra, we're actually here to talk to Trevor. Are you, um…" she gave up all pretense of being polite and just asked, because she was dying to know. "Why are you here?"

Kendra beamed. "Casey, didn't you know? Trevor and I are together."

"You're kidding." Derek couldn't help but blurt it out.

"Don't look so surprised, Derry, or your face will stick that way," Kendra reprimanded, clearly amused. "I know it doesn't make any sense. But he came to visit my university last fall, and I was the campus tour guide. We recognized each other from Thompson, and got talking. And one thing led to another, and now here I am."

"Yeah, she practically lives at my house now. Apparently only children get bored when they're home alone." Trevor came up behind Kendra and put his arms around her from behind. Derek tried not to gag. Sure, they hadn't been together in two years, but it was still a jarring sight to see someone so preppy with someone so…not.

"Hi guys," he continued, oblivious to their shocked expressions. "What's up?"

Casey mercifully swung into action, because the others had no idea what to say. "Um, we're here because we're planning the Senior Prank, and we need your help. It's kind of top secret, though, so could we maybe go somewhere private?"

Trevor blushed. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe we're still standing on my porch. Come in, come in."

He and Kendra led the group into his living room, and everyone sat down. Kendra apparently hadn't understood the 'private' part, because she was sitting on Trevor's lap instead of leaving the room. Casey looked to Emily for help.

Emily cleared her throat. "No offense, Kendra, but this is kind of a Class of 2009 thing. It's top secret."

"Oh, come on," she whined good-naturedly. "I'm sure you know that my class's was a bust last year. Let me help! I can keep a secret."

Casey, Emily, and Sheldon looked at Derek. "Fine!" He threw up his hands. He had learned long ago that arguing with Kendra would get him nowhere.

Bump in the Road Number Four: Variables 

The next morning, Casey was optimistic. They were all going to figure out exactly what needed to be done, and who would do it. But when they met in the McDonald-Venturi kitchen at ten o'clock on Saturday, she forgot all about several variables:

She wasn't really on speaking terms with Max. They were cordial, but it was awkward. She tried not to look at him.

Derek hated early mornings, and made sure everyone knew it by being extra grumpy.

Sam was a yes-man. He hated confrontation, so he'd say yes to anything, even if that meant completely refusing to pick sides in an argument. He could be a problem if there were disagreements.

Kendra and Sheldon had always tolerated each other, but they didn't exactly like each other. Kendra had been kind of mean to him in high school, and thought he was weird, despite the warm greeting she had given him at Trevor's house.

Ralph was useless when asked to perform any kind of task that involved math, measurements, scotch tape (it freaked him out), and focusing on one particular item for more than a few minutes at a time. Casey loved him to death, but he just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing.

And the last, most important variable: she and Derek were constantly butting heads. She knew she should back off; this was _his_ thing, after all, but for some reason she wanted to impress him with her ability to pull off this prank. She hated herself for letting her feelings get in the way of something so important, but that didn't stop her from being a control freak.

So it shouldn't have surprised Casey that barely anything got accomplished that morning. All anyone did was argue. They couldn't decide the best way to get balloons in the school. They couldn't decide how much time they would need inside the school to set up on the morning of the prank. Luckily, Ralph said something that got them to focus, at least for a few minutes.

"My uncle knows circus people."

"What?" said about five of them at once.

"Yeah. We could ask him if his friends could be our clowns. They'd do it for free, too. My uncle won't mind asking them."

"You're kidding," Kendra scoffed. "You seriously know _clowns_?"

"_I_ don't, my uncle does. In fact, I'll call him right now."

"Ralph, why didn't Sam and I know this?" Derek asked, looking wide-eyed at Sam.

Ralph shrugged. "I don't like to advertise it. Somehow whenever I tell people my uncle has circus friends, they tend to think I'm part of that crowd too." He shrugged. "No idea why."

Emily and Casey giggled behind their hands. Poor Ralph.

After that valuable revelation, not much else was decided. They decided to meet again after school on Monday, hoping that Ralph's uncle would get back to him with his answer by then.

The Road Gets Less Bumpy: Execution

Somehow, it was all coming together.

Derek was trying his best to remain calm. He had pulled off dozens of pranks in his day. But never on such a large scale, and never with so many people involved. It would make anyone a little jumpy.

He had everyone gathered outside the school. It would be too risky to send everyone in at once, so he had assigned everyone specific duties to be carried out at specific times. They were all camped out on the school's front lawn, having told their parents that they were sleeping over at each other's houses.

Derek had been really impressed by Casey's ability to lie to Nora about what they were doing. His heart seemed to swell with pride every time he looked at her—she was being so cool about all this. And then he stuffed his feelings back into the recesses of his mind so that he could focus on the mission.

Because there was no time to think about things like girls when his reputation was on the line. Even Derek had _some_ self-control.

Kendra unloaded all of the supplies from her car. She had been in charge of doing all the shopping, and no one had protested about that. She had decided to camp out along with everyone else, though, mostly to be with Trevor.

Meanwhile, Ralph and Derek snuck over to the door they knew the night janitor would be using. Once he emerged and swung the door shut, Derek stuck out a foot to keep it from closing all the way. The janitor, who was busy whistling, didn't hear him, and kept walking. Ralph put a block of wood underneath Derek's foot, and they both slid away from the door. Derek breathed a sigh of relief, and gave Ralph a salute. They were in.

When Ralph and Derek returned to the makeshift camp, Sheldon and Emily grabbed the large trash bags that constituted their mission, and headed back towards the now open door.

"I'll take the Grade 9 and 10 wings," Sheldon whispered, and Emily nodded.

"Good idea. We'll meet up at the cafeteria when we're done."

They spread out, sticking balloons through the vent in each locker they passed. Kendra had taped little notes to each balloon, saying 'Blow Me at 11am.' That had been Derek's idea, of course, and it had earned him a thwack on the head from his stepsister, but everyone had to admit that it was pretty clever. They were hoping that people would catch on to what they were planning and each add their blown-up balloons to the carnival atmosphere.

Emily and Sheldon, returned with empty trash bags, and they reloaded them with giant bags of pre-popped popcorn Kendra had bought. They handed off the bags to Derek and Casey, and then settled into their sleeping bags.

"I don't know why you insisted I come with _you_," Casey whined as they headed into the school.

Derek groaned. "Don't start this again, Case. We made the plan, and it just worked out that we would have to come in together, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah." Casey actually felt kind of privileged to be the one to help Derek with his job. She knew he respected her for how well she was handling this prank, though it was never acknowledged aloud. She could just tell, and it made her far too happy.

Instead of splitting up, they went around to various classrooms together. Casey had made a list of where each person on their team would be at eleven, and they had decided to put the popcorn bags in those classrooms. (It was too risky to bring even more people in on the prank.) Derek held the trash bag open while Casey shoved the giant popcorn bags into the classrooms' closets.

When they had finished all five classrooms, Casey began heading towards the door. Derek grabbed her arm to stop her, and she gave him a questioning look.

"Wait, there's one more thing we need to do." He pulled her towards Paul's office.

"What are you talking about?" She yanked her arm out of his grasp and frowned. "You're scaring me."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Drama Queen. We're just going to hide that banner you made in Paul's office."

"What are you, nuts? I thought I'd carry it to school in my bag!"

"But you're in Paul's office right before the eleven o'clock class, aren't you?"

"How did you know—"

"So, you can just grab it and head out into the hall. I don't want us carrying around any evidence, in case Lassiter suspects something."

Casey stopped in her tracks. "Good point. I didn't think of that."

They quickly hid the 'Class of 2009' banner under a chair in the corner of Paul's office. Casey knew that even if Paul found it, he wouldn't touch it.

Casey found herself grinning widely at Derek; he looked so proud she could hardly stand it. She knew he was in his element right now. Before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed his hand, and they ran towards the open door together, grinning widely at their accomplishment.

Casey didn't want to admit it, but she could totally get used to this feeling.

Ralph and Trevor went in next. While Casey and Derek had been gone, the others had used a helium pump to blow up almost a hundred of the same type of balloons they had put in students' lockers. After placing half in the janitor's closet, and the other half in the gym closet, which no one ever used, Ralph headed back outside. Trevor went to the main office to get to work on the PA system.

He came back outside about an hour later, wiping his brow. "That was intense. Who knew our school used such complicated equipment?"

Kendra jumped up to give him a hug. "Oh, Trevie. You're so smart."

Derek hated to interrupt their moment, but he had to know. "So, did you get it done?"

Kendra pouted at Derek. "Stop it. Can't you see he's exhausted?"

Trevor shoved Kendra playfully and chuckled. "I'm fine! Yes, Derek, it's ready. At eleven, the PA will start playing the mix you made."

"You didn't put any, uh, inappropriate songs on there, did you, Derek?" Casey asked. Everyone (with the exception of Emily) threw their pillows at her.

Bump in the Road Number Five: Confrontation 

They had one group left to go into the school: Max and Sam would be littering the hallways with dozens of index cards and post-its saying 'It's Coming' in black marker. They had all worked on this together, trying their best to disguise their handwriting.

Max and Sam entered the school, and the others sat around chatting.

Emily's eyes practically fell out of their sockets when she saw Casey shiver, and Derek put his leather jacket around her shoulders. Casey looked at him gratefully, and Emily could tell that Derek hadn't wanted attention drawn to it, so she locked eyes with Sheldon instead. He gave her a slight nod and a smile. He'd been away from London for a long time, but some things never changed.

Sam had always hated confrontation. He was the kind of guy who kept his opinions to himself if they were going to offend anyone (all bets were off when it came to Derek, however…dude needed _someone_ to keep him in line.) So he had seethed inwardly at Max's interference in their group, and kept his feelings hidden.

But he couldn't take it anymore. He and Max had been covering the school in the 'It's Coming' signs, and Max bent down to get a drink of water.

"Max, no!" Sam heard himself cry, recognizing which water fountain it was.

It was too late. The faulty fountain squirted water up and all over Max, and the pieces of paper he was holding got soaked.

Sam quickly grabbed the papers from his partner and began spreading them out across the floor. The ink had already begun to run.

"They're ruined," Sam sighed dejectedly.

"I'm so sorry, Sam, I had no idea," Max moaned, sounding genuinely remorseful. "I'll put a few of them by the heating vent, and we can just finish putting yours everywhere."

Sam was not a snippy guy. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was still annoyed that Max had weaseled his way into their group, maybe he was just sorry he hadn't been able to stop the water. Whatever it was, he lost control of himself.

"Oh, okay, Max. We'll just take the few I have left, and put one in each hallway. That's _exactly_ what the plan was. Good thing you thought of that." He threw the small handful of index cards and post-its he had been holding up in the air, and they fluttered down around him. He stalked off towards the exit. Derek was going to be pretty angry. It was the middle of the night. It wasn't like they could run out and buy more papers.

Max picked up the supplies Sam had dropped and began spreading them around the nearby hallways. It was better than nothing, he figured. And he even spread some of the wet ones around. There was a chance they would still be legible once they dried. Then he ran out to join the others, certain that Sam would be bad-mouthing him.

To his surprise, Sam was sitting quietly as Casey rubbed his shoulders.

"Hey, Max, what's going on? Sam said some papers got wet?" Derek asked sternly.

Max shrugged. "Yeah. Sorry, Derek. But we still put plenty of them up." He shot Sam a grateful look, but Sam turned away.

"Hey, Sam, we okay?" Max asked.

Sam pushed Casey away. "No, we're not. You've _done_ this already. It was _your_ fault last year's prank failed. Why did you have to come back and ruin ours, too?"

"Sam!" several members of the group gasped.

"Max, you had no right to come in here and try to take credit for our work." Sam turned to everyone else. "I'm sorry, guys. You know I get cranky when I'm tired. But it needs to be said. Don't you think it was wrong for Max to weasel his way into our group?"

No one answered him, and Max blushed. He hated being painted as the bad guy. "You guys, I have a confession to make."

Everyone but Sam looked at him expectantly.

"Amy heard you guys talking about your prank and texted me. She insisted that since we didn't do so well last year, I should try to help you guys out. I didn't even know what she said to you until after that lunch. She just texted me again later and told me to show up at Smelly Nelly's. By the time I figured out what she'd done, I was too happy to be a part of your team. So I let you keep thinking that I was blackmailing you or whatever. I know it was wrong, but you have to believe me. I just wanted a chance to be in on a good prank."

"Why should we believe you?" Derek asked cautiously.

Max sighed. "Because I'm telling the truth."

Casey nodded. "I believe him."

"Of course you do," Derek said, more harshly than he'd intended. "God forbid perfect Max would ever do something bad."

"That's not fair, Derek," Casey said evenly, glancing at Max with an encouraging smile. "I know he's never really gotten along with the hockey players," she gave Sam a pointed look, "but he's a great guy."

"Thanks, Casey. That means a lot," Max said. He held out a hand to Sam. "I'm really sorry about the water fountain. Truce?"

Sam shook it. "Truce. I'm sorry for getting so angry. I think I need a nap."

Everyone laughed. Sam settled into his sleeping bag, and the rest of the group followed suit. They had nothing left to do but wait.

Bump in the Road Number Six: Catastrophe

They each sat in their respective homerooms, nervously glancing at the clock every few minutes. Max, Kendra, and Sheldon were hiding out at a nearby diner. They would be in charge of sending in the clowns, who were due to arrive around 10:15.

Derek never paid attention in his classes, but today was especially bad. He was hoping he could just borrow Casey's notes, because his were more illegible than usual. He noticed several people throughout the day whispering about the 'It's Coming' notes, and heard more than a few people discussing the balloons they had found in their lockers.

Finally, it was go time. 10:55. Casey said goodbye to Paul and grabbed the banner from his office with a sly smile. He just shook his head in amusement. Ralph's uncle's friends stationed themselves outside various entrances to the school with the help of Max, Kendra, and Sheldon. They were in full clown costume and makeup, armed with supplies to make balloon animals and do face painting. They had thought of that all on their own, and the group had been impressed that Ralph had such good connections.

10:57. Casey passed Derek in the hall as she was going to hang their banner, and he squeezed her hand for luck. He was heading to the gym's and janitors' closet to unleash the balloons. Just as he was pushing them out into the hallways, the chaos erupted.

The bell signaling the end of classes rang at 10:59, and a minute later, with the hallways flooded with traffic, his glorious prank began. The PA began blaring music. The six clowns entered the building and began heckling the crowd. Kids were blowing up their balloons left and right, and popcorn was being passed around from the giant bags Sam, Ralph, Emily, Trevor, and Derek had placed outside their classroom doors.

It was pure pandemonium, and Derek stood back, soaking it all in. A few people winked at him, realizing that this was the culmination of all his hard work.

Casey came bouncing up to him, cheeks painted with tiny balloons, and threw her arms around him. He stumbled back into the wall, but she just kept hugging him tighter.

"I can't believe this is happening. Congratulations," she whispered into his ear, and his knees practically buckled. She pulled back a little, and they locked eyes. Before anything else could happen, a group of people came barreling down the hallway, pushing them away from each other. There was lots of yelling; Casey tried to ask a passerby what was going on, but all she got was a shrug.

Casey and Derek looked at each other in apprehension, and wordlessly followed the crowd. They both had that feeling that whatever was going on at the other end of the hallway was not a celebration.

They turned a corner and hit a wall of students. They could barely make out someone yelling orders. Sam pushed his way out of the crowd toward them.

"Hey, have you heard?"

Derek and Casey shook their heads, and Sam took a deep breath. "Apparently the cheerleaders were organizing a pyramid in front of the cafeteria. Some kid came running around the corner and knocked into one of them. The girls on top hit the floor, and as far as I can tell, a couple of them are unconscious, and some others are pretty badly hurt."

"Oh, no," Casey sighed as she sunk against the wall. Derek punched his fist into his palm angrily. The three of them stood there without speaking, and within a few seconds a hush came over the crowd. The PA music had stopped, and as word traveled through the school, all sound ceased. An ambulance siren was barely audible in the distance.

Casey began sobbing quietly, and Derek put a tentative arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. "Derek, this is all our fault," she began, but he shushed her.

"This has nothing to do with us," he murmured, but one glance at Sam told him that that was obviously not true.

Trevor and Kendra came running up, hand in hand.

"I turned off the music when I started hearing screaming. What's going on?" Trevor asked breathlessly.

Sam explained what had happened, and Kendra gulped. "This is so bad," she said unnecessarily.

Trevor planted a kiss on her cheek. "It's gonna be okay."

Sheldon and Emily came up to them next, and then Max. They all wore grave expressions.

The group watched with concern as the crowd in front of them parted to let the paramedics through. The emergency workers rushed past them, wheeling stretchers, and none of them dared to look. Derek opened one eye and counted at least four stretchers going by, but he couldn't make out who any of the girls were.

The Road Ends 

So, now you know how my glorious senior prank crashed and burned. Lassiter came up to us in the hallway a few minutes later, practically dragged me into his office, and I broke down and confessed. Can you blame me? I was kind of shaken up.

He knew I had never wanted anyone to get hurt. It turns out that five girls fell—two of them had concussions, the other three broke and/or sprained something. Lassiter could tell I felt guilty enough as it is, so he just gave me detention every day until finals start next week. Which sucks, but I can deal.

The good part of the whole thing came after. I found out later from Casey that Max, Kendra, and Sheldon got to work cleaning up everything carnival related, including driving the clowns home—they were understandably pretty upset. Ralph, Emily, Sam, Trevor, and Casey went to see Lassiter, and they all confessed to being a part of the prank. He gave them all detentions too.

I couldn't believe they had done that. Okay, I could. But it was just such a nice gesture.

And now I'm getting all sappy.

Ahem.

Anyway, I guess this story does have a happy ending after all. When Casey told me all this, I hugged her so tightly her gum popped out of her mouth and flew across the living room. It hit Edwin in the head, and we both started laughing. Mostly from relief, I guess, but it _was _pretty funny. And then the laughing turned into kissing, and the kissing turned into me paying Edwin eighty bucks to pretend he never saw anything.

All of the cheerleaders who got hurt are going to be okay. Casey actually dragged me to the hospital to visit each and every one of them, which, I have to admit, was a nice idea. They all said the same thing: 'It's not your fault.' (And by the way, Amy wasn't one of the injured girls. But she got her just desserts anyway- Wax, er, I mean Max, dumped her.)

So I guess you could say I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now. Emily, Sheldon, Ralph, Sam, Max, Kendra, Trevor, Casey, and I all gathered at Smelly Nelly's to discuss our almost-not-quite victory. As we clinked our glasses together, I glanced across the table at Casey, who crossed her eyes at me and then winked.

Yeah, I'd say things are looking pretty good from where I'm sitting.

Now you know the story of the Senior Prank that almost wasn't, and then was, and then ended horrifically. Eh, you win some, you lose some, right? Even Derek Venturi isn't perfect.

**The End**

Here's the prompt:

The boys (Derek, Ralph, and Sam) plan the ultimate Senior Prank, but they must admit that they can't pull it off alone. Emily and Casey both get pulled into the elaborate prank. Max (who isn't dating Casey anymore) somehow finds out and wants in, with bragging rights to keep his mouth shut. Trevor also gets dragged into the situation, as do Kendra and Sheldon when they visit their friends for the weekend. Can they still keep the prank under wraps with so many involved or will they get caught? And what kind of...situations will they find themselves in? Pairings by the end: Dasey, Shemily, and Kenvor. Also must include Sam somehow telling Max off.

So it probably wasn't the most faithful to the prompt it could have been, but I tried. Let me know what you think!


End file.
